The Restaurant and Bar Design Awards 2014

2nd October 2014

Last week one of our team members attended the prestigious Restaurant and Bar Design Awards at the Old Truman Brewery in London. Now in their sixth year, this international awards ceremony is the only event in the world which is dedicated to recognising achievements in the world of bar and restaurant design.

Entries are received from all over the globe from some of the world’s top architects, designers and hospitality operators and showcase some extraordinary innovations in the design and branding of a variety of food and beverage spaces – from ships to airports, museums to burger revered Michelin-starred restaurants to pop-up bars and nosheries – all are honoured. This year saw over 860 entries from more than 60 different countries and the glittering event attracted many of the world’s top designers, restaurateurs and bar owners.

The overall winners this year were Les Haras in France (best restaurant), designed by Jouin Manku and FEI in China (best bar) designed by A.N.D.

One of our favourite winners was the best brand identity – which was the Miss K? Asian Fusion restaurant in Paris, France designed by Philippe Starck for GBH.

The premise behind the brand is described by GBH as “The future; a place where cultures collide, fantasy rules and nothing is what it seems. It’s like Blade Runner – only happy.”

The brand identity is based on a fictional character called Miss K? – “a young, sexy but eternally mysterious symbol of Asia, and the embodiment of its traditions and its strangeness” the character has a full Yakuza style body tattoo – including on her tongue – and it is this imagery, photographed by Uli Webber, which is used in all of the branding materials.

Peter Hale, creative director explains the inspiration for the design:

‘We were investigating the weirdest and strangest aspects of eastern culture to us Westerners, and the full body-suit tattoo seemed quite extreme. It’s that tradition of having something a bit edgy alongside all the high-society stuff.’

Phillipe Starck adds:

“Miss K? is a fantasy created from scratch, an exquisite corpse, a crazy collage where you walk into a faraway ‘court of miracles’ on a street straight out of Blade Runner, steeped in limitless creative madness, where artists are freed of all boundaries, where technology shows an exciting tomorrow, where industry becomes art.”

With branding this good we can only hope the restaurant’s food lives up to the expectations!